The Passport Cocktail & Wine Bar

The Passport grew out of Pour Decisions STL, the mobile-bar company that certified sommelier Javia Gilliam-Sanford and mixologist Kaje Sanford launched in 2020. The husband-and-wife team opened their first brick-and-mortar in September 2024 at 1321 Washington Avenue downtown, filling the former Whisky on Washington space with photos from their travels and thrifted mid-century modern furniture. The bar's popularity outgrew the room: in November 2025 they relaunched The Passport in a two-story space at 6275 Delmar in the Delmar Loop, adding a kitchen for shareable small plates for the first time and an upstairs ruby-red Equinox Lounge that hosts wine-club gatherings and Vino and Vinyl Wednesday sessions.

The zero-proof program is a fixture, not a seasonal stunt. The current menu's Spirit Free section runs ten cocktails deep, all built on Lyre's non-alcoholic spirits: the Japanese Water (Lyre's agave spirit, elderflower syrup, fresh lime, sparkling yuzu), a Clover Club shaken with egg whites and raspberry, tiki-leaning Zombie and Mai Tai builds, a Sicilian Margarita with Lyre's Amaretti, a Cuba Libre, an Aperol-style spritz with Lyre's Italian Spritz and No-Secco, plus alcohol-free takes on the Old Fashioned, Margarita, and French 75. The lineup debuted as a Dry January menu in 2025 — Sauce Magazine highlighted its spirit-free Old Fashioned and Margarita — and St. Louis Magazine's relaunch coverage noted a mocktail lineup that spans from Japan to the Caribbean.

The Passport has drawn steady coverage from Sauce Magazine, Feast Magazine, and St. Louis Magazine since opening, first as a downtown 'first look' and again for the Loop relaunch. Expect a cozy, living-room feel with modern disco and R&B on the speakers, signature cocktails like From Mykonos, With Love and the caviar-olive Golden Martini for drinking companions, and a bottle program and monthly wine club curated by Gilliam-Sanford. It opens evenings Wednesday through Saturday, with reservations available online — an easy, dressed-up option for mixed groups where the spirit-free list gets the same craft as everything else.